UCI statement concerning the CAS decision on Blaza Klemencic

The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) announces that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by Blaza Klemencic against the decision rendered by the UCI Anti-Doping Tribunal on 20 may 2016. The CAS confirmed that Ms. Klemencic committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation and upheld the two-year sanction imposed on her. The matter resulted from the reanalysis of a sample provided by Blaza Klemencic in the scope of an out-of-competition control on 27 March 2012, which revealed the presence of Recombinant Erythropoietin. The reanalysis of Ms. Klemencic’s sample from 2012 was performed using the very latest scientific analysis methods. As per the World Anti-Doping Code and the UCI Anti-Doping Rules, the Storage and Reanalysis Strategy for cycling is defined and implemented by the Cycling Anti-Doping Foundation (CADF) as mandated by the UCI. The Strategy provides that samples from the leaders of the Grand Tours, UCI World Championships and general rankings of all cycling disciplines are to be stored for potential retesting. Other samples, based on risk assessment carried out by the CADF, laboratory recommendations, Athlete Biological Passport data, new detection methods and scientific developments, are also to be retained for retesting. The standard time of storage and further reanalysis under this strategy is up to 10 years.